Republican Who Led Prop. 308 Campaign Slams DOJ Lawsuit

The Department of Justice sued the state of Arizona and the Arizona Board of Regents on Thursday for granting in-state tuition to undocumented students–”dreamers”–who graduate from Arizona high schools. In an interview with Arizona Globe, Tyler Montague, a lifelong Republican and political consultant who chaired the Yes on 308 campaign in 2022 which gave dreamers the tuition rights, blasted the suit, saying the Trump Administration is wrong on every level. “They’re wrong on the politics, they’re wrong on the law, and they’re wrong on the policy,” Montague said.

The DOJ argues Arizona is giving undocumented students a tuition benefit unavailable on equal terms to U.S. citizens. Montague says, “there is no special benefit given to Dreamers that’s not available to anyone else in the country.” He argues that eligibility is based on attending an Arizona high school for the required period and graduating, not immigration status alone. “If you come here and go to high school and your dad gets a job in Chicago, you qualify for in-state tuition under Prop. 308,” he says.

He says that DOJ is treating a relatively small number of students as if they are crowding out Arizona residents. In addition, he adds, the majority of dreamers attend community colleges, which are suffering from declining enrollment anyway, and gladly welcome the additional customers.  “The vision of 10,000 students displacing our students is a fallacy,” he says. “The kids trying to go to college are a benefit, not a problem…It’s nonsensical from an economic standpoint and a moral standpoint to be going after the Dreamers.”

Montague says that when it comes to immigration policies, this is the worst possible route that the Trump Administration could be taking. “There are problems with undocumented immigration. People don’t want open borders, they don’t want gang members coming here, they want people to pay taxes. But not everything is a problem.” It’s just, he says, “dumb politics.” “When you go after the Dreamers and you break up families, people turn against you. Why would you go offend people?”

Attorney General Kris Mayes is expected to fight the DOJ lawsuit in court. Montague is confident that she’ll carry this through. The fact that she’s an outspoken Democrat doesn’t matter to him. He says that Prop. 308 represents the “will of Arizona voters,” regardless of party. “I still hate taxes, like guns, go to church on Sunday and drive a truck that pollutes the environment. But do we have to pick on the Dreamers?”